A 10-year-old girl, under psychiatric treatment for the past two years, revealed to doctors at the Medical College Hospital (MCH), Thiruvananthapuram, that she was raped two years ago by a neighbour. It was the trauma of the rape that made her mentally unstable.
A. Shine Kumar, sub-inspector, Naruvammoodu, said the incident came to light when the child, who dropped out of school and was undergoing intense psychiatric treatment, suddenly saw the man who had violated her.
“She had reached the MCH with her mother, who is a cancer patient, for her regular psychiatric counselling last week, when she suddenly turned violent on seeing Sreekandan Nair, the accused. He was her neighbour and was working as a security guard at the hospital. She then revealed during counselling to Child Welfare Committee members that the man had raped her two years ago. Medical tests have confirmed this as well,” Mr. Shine Kumar said. The police arrested Sreekandan Nair, 55. He reportedly confessed that he had lured the child, while she was playing with her friends, into his house offering fruits and then raped her in the bathroom. He, as per the child’s statement, had threatened to kill her if she revealed the incident to anyone.
“The child subsequently developed mental problems and had to seek psychiatric treatment,” the officer said. The accused was produced in court and remanded in judicial custody on Wednesday.
Sreekandan Nair’s wife, the police said, had lodged a complaint with the Maranalloor police accusing him of infidelity.
